Restless
by HybridKiller
Summary: It was 3:00 AM and she knew she needed sleep. But sleep was the last thing on Raven’s mind. Instead, a simple request turned into something more. His words soon began to haunt her mind. OneShot


A/N: Here's a quick little oneshot for you all. I wrote this at 3:00 AM and finished it soon after. I'm sure you can all guess where I got the inspiration. As always: reviews are appreciated, but not required.

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Restless

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Raven lowered her head softly against her pillow. She gripped the hems of her covers and raised them to her chin. As she lay there, she shivered slightly and relaxed into her nice warm bed. The velvet pillowcase brushed against her cheek. She flipped on her stomach and buried her face deep within the pillow's soft embrace. It felt good to be in bed. All of the stress dripped away from her shoulders as she relaxed her muscles. She began to stretch her arms and legs like a little kitten, mewing softly in content.

The covers around her body were comfortable. She could almost imagine floating on a fluffy cloud, lost without a care for the world as she explored the heavens beyond. Yes, she quickly reasoned that her bed was the best protection against the trials and tribulations of life.

She could feel her hair draped across her pillow. Her hair was getting long now, almost an inch past her shoulders. She knew it needed a nice trim. Perhaps if she found the time, she might get a haircut tomorrow. Certainly if not tomorrow, it would have to be sometime soon. Yet tomorrow would be a busy day, so she quickly shook her head and ignored the issue altogether. It was best to ignore such petty things for now.

She watched darkness float around her room. The night was always so pretty to her, where trees and walls and oceans turn into magnificent shades of green, black and purple. Only in the night could a building filled with obnoxious teenagers become quiet and still. Yes, it was the night that she loved the most. She could hardly embrace the peace in its entirety, but she would certainly try.

She was in no rush to fall asleep.

A slight chill ran across Raven's body. It was an odd sensation considering a large blanket, three sheets and a comforter loosely covered the girl. She also wore her uniform and she had made certain that the heater in her room would blast warmth at a fast rate. It was a shock to her that cold could seep through such conditions, even though the bed was plenty toasty. Perhaps she wasn't cold at all. She began to wonder if it was the type of chill that couldn't be solved through warm temperature alone. It was probably something beyond body warmth. It was all mental.

She was forgetting something. Raven wasn't sure what she lacked, but she knew it had to be important. Or at least important enough to cause her to shake and shiver.

Raven closed her eyes and dug beneath her covers. She held her breath and dove into the darkened abyss below. Inside the world of her bed, she was alone. She was alone, warm and comforted. She was protected from the monsters and troubles awaiting her tomorrow. She would soon be able to shut the world out and get a good night's sleep. But her covered fortress soon became cramped and slightly uncomfortable. She tossed to her right side. Then to her left side. On her back and on her stomach. She flipped once more to her right, opened her eyes and rocked softly back and forth. She was bored. So very bored. Where did her nice, comfy bed go?

It was nearing 3:00 AM. She knew she had to get to sleep. In fact, it was mandatory she got a good night's rest. Tomorrow was training day. But not just any training day, tomorrow was the day Robin tested everyone's improvement for the month. By comparing last month's results to this month, he could tell who improved and who grew worse. It would soon be clear she hadn't trained at all. In fact, she was slightly convinced she might even score worse this month than ever before, considering she hadn't found the time to train.

It didn't help she would be training on reduced sleep.

There was a running punishment, too. The least improved person had to wash dishes for a month. Okay, so it wasn't the worst punishment in the world but she didn't look forward to it. Plus, she dreaded the added harassment of Robin who would surely get angry for her decreasing abilities, or of Beast Boy who would have his fair share of laughs. "Hey Rae! You missed a spot!"

Tomorrow was certainly going to be fun. Oh so very fun. She could hardly wait for the excitement. No wonder she couldn't get to sleep…

3:15 AM came by so quickly. Like a lost puppy looking for home, she felt so very out of place. Her bed felt alien. Her covers betrayed her. And damn, it was cold. She was shivering worse now, wishing that her blankets were enough to keep her warm. Raven popped her head out from under the covers. She eyed the ceiling, looked at her bookshelf and the Gothic mask on her dresser. The desk, the chair and a pile of books on the floor. A closet with a large mirror. There were so many things to look at yet she had no idea what to focus on. Even her ceiling, suiting more than a million little dots of broken ceiling fuzz and drywall, held not enough dots to keep her attention.

She dug her head deeper into her pillow and closed her eyes. Inside her mind, she tried to drown out the world. She tried hard enough to cause little freckles of color to enter her consciousness. Swirls of blue and green with the added contrast of a sharp maroon. The colors were so pretty, yet so very simple. Too simple. Raven opened her eyes and sat up. She began rocking back and forth slightly irritated now. Her eyes squinted at the clock. 3:25 AM and she still couldn't sleep.

She had an agreement with Beast Boy, a bet that she had never intended to make. Yesterday, he wouldn't leave her alone. He kept bothering her while she read. Raven snapped. She glared at him and spoke the first thing that came to mind. She bet him he couldn't stay quiet for the rest of the night. She swore if he could leave her alone for one 'fucking' night, she would pay attention to him tomorrow. He didn't bother her again. She lost perhaps the easiest bet in history and now she owed him precious time.

Tomorrow was going to be such a _great_ day…

Raven ran her fingers through her hair. She undid a knot, but even her hair had far too few knots to entertain her wandering mind. And before long, her hair became smooth while her attention span grew short. She jumped out of bed and looked at her bookshelf. Surely there was a book she could read. She glanced across the titles on her shelf, yet there was nothing new to discover. She had read every book she owned five times over, sometimes more. Some of these books had been read so often she had the pages memorized. Because Raven had finished reading her newest book yesterday, she officially had no new material to enjoy. She also wouldn't have enough time to go to the library tomorrow and get something new. She would have to go at least a day without reading. A Beast Boy filled day without a book.

She definitely couldn't wait for tomorrow…

Cyborg had asked Raven to a game day tomorrow. More like Cyborg had asked everyone if they would spend some time with him after they trained. The robot man had said something about trying to spend some quality time with the gang. She hadn't paid attention. Regardless, Robin jumped at the opportunity and forced everyone to go. Star—who wanted to watch her show—and even Beast Boy who was addicted to a new video game. And if they were forced to go, that meant her, too. Oh joy…

Tomorrow: "the most exciting day of the week."

Raven bit her bottom lip. She picked up the metallic quarter on the side of her desk and began to spin it. Three rotations. Five rotations. Twelve rotations. Two-hundred and fifty-eight rotations. Three thousand…she threw the coin across her room. Dare she look up at the clock? Dare she consider the time? She dared. It was 3:48.

Raven walked across her room and peaked at the thermostat. It read 79 degrees Fahrenheit. That was easily hot enough to keep her warm. Why did she continue to shiver? Why was it so bloody cold? Why did she feel so…alone? Raven dropped to one knee and peaked underneath her door. The gap displayed an empty hallway with the light turned off. Surely, if the lights were off, everyone had long since gone to bed. There wasn't a sane person awake at such an hour of the night, especially not on training day. Raven quietly opened her door and snuck out. She tiptoed across Titan's Tower until she came to the living room. She peered around the corner and made absolute sure nobody was in the room before entering. She was alone.

She sat on the couch and began to relax. She let her hair fall limply against the red cushion, hoping she might be able to sleep. It started off well, until the couch began to hurt her side. She tossed to her right. She rolled on her left. She crawled into a little ball and began to rock. After what felt like an hour of quiet waiting, the girl felt a tear building in her eye. Why couldn't she sleep? Why must today—the early morning of hell-filled tomorrow—be the day of her torment?

She couldn't stand it. She was panicked. She needed to sleep. Raven wanted to sleep so badly, she became desperate. She walked back to her room and closed the door. She told herself she was going to fall asleep even if it meant slamming her head against the wall and knocking herself out. She fell into her bed, closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply. Her muscles fell limp, her eyelids were heavy, her body became lifeless and she began to wiggle her toes. Her toes continued to wiggle.

She was still awake.

Starfire had said something about wanting to go late-night shopping tomorrow. She wanted to hang out with Raven as 'just girls.' Starfire meant well, but Raven didn't want to go. Shopping with Star was always a boring event. A bunch of socks, a bottle of mustard and the occasional 'flarfnog.'

Raven sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a delight, as if she needed any more reasons to make her busy day ever-busier.

Raven didn't know what to do at this point. She didn't care. The world began to disappear from her mind as the words "Metrion…Zinthos" filled the air. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos…Azarath Metrion Zinthos." The words felt cold beneath her breath. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos—" Even meditation didn't help her get to sleep. And now she felt drowsy. She felt numb and tried, but her mind refused to shut off. To top it all off, her meditation made her feel slightly ill. It had made things worse.

Beast Boy said something about wanting to hang out with her tomorrow. Something relating to that bet they had made. Of course, when he woke her up at 11:53 at night to discuss their plans for tomorrow, he had not realized he actually broke the bet. Raven never mentioned it. He had at least been quiet for most of the night, so she would let him have his fun. She wasn't _that_ cruel.

Beast Boy wanted to go see a movie.

He didn't ask her out on a date. He had made it clear they would be going as 'just friends.' But it became obvious Beast Boy wanted to date her. He had said something about popcorn and money not being a problem. And something about him providing Moped transport and other date-like issues.

Raven never answered his plea. Beast Boy frowned at her lack of a response. He seemed very disappointed, but he quickly erased his frustration with a grin. He said they could discuss it tomorrow. Then he left.

It's tomorrow. It's almost 5 AM and she still hadn't gotten to sleep. Tomorrow, they would discuss plans. Tomorrow, Raven would be forced to hang out with Beast Boy. Tomorrow, she would have to do something she had never done before…and she would have to do it with Beast Boy. She shivered one final time, but she knew she wasn't cold. She was so extremely nervous, she almost felt cold.

She didn't know why, but somewhere deep within her heart, she knew tomorrow was going to be great. Not excellent and certainly not perfect…but tomorrow will be a great day. As the thoughts slowly ran through her head, her eyes closed and the world began to disappear. She dreamt of the green boy as she finally fell asleep.

And soon, the world felt right.


End file.
